Latch.



0. A. MILLIGAN.

LATGH.

APPLICATION FILED oo'r.a0,1sos.

Patented May 18, 1909.

2 SHEETS-BREE! 1 Qy f j' uventoz wihmooea G. A. MILLIGAN.

LATUH.

APPLICATION FILED OUT. 30, 1906.

witnmo GJEWMM m Patented May 18, 1909.

2 SHEBTB8HEET 2.

uveutoz adapted for use on beveled or other tight fit- 'lA YhURVILLl'J. ILLINOIS.

LATCH.

No. 922,177. Specification of Letters Patent. Patented May 18, 1909.

Application filed October 30, 1906. Serial No. 341,276.

To all whom it *nzay concern:

Be it known that I, (unions A. MJLLIGAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at 'laylorville, in the county of Christian, State 1 of Illinois, luivcinvented certain new and usel'ul Improvements in Latches; and I do h erehy declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact (lescription of the invention, such as will our ble others skilled in the art to which it appertains to niakcand use the same.

'l his invention relates to latches, and 1 more particularly to latches which are best ting refrigeratru' doors, and the object of the invention is to provide a latch of this character which may be operated to tightly close the door and which may also be operated to open the door.

Broadly stated, the latch comprises a latch lever having major and minor ofi'set portions which are adapted to on age the inner and outer faces respectively 0? an inclined keeper to close or open the door. Heretofore devices of this class have been so constructed that it is necessary to give the latch lever a complete rotation. In the use of to device it is only necessary to rotate the latch lever approximately one-half of a circle and to accomplish this result I have provided a novel form of latch lever.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure l is a front elevation of my invention a plied to a refrigerator door and showing in dbtted lines the operating handle for the latch which is located inside of the refrigerator. Fig. 2 is a view simi ar to Fig. 1 showing the latch lever swung into proper engagement with the keeper to open the door. Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view through the door and aportron of the frame showing the latch in top plan. and Fig. 4 is a detail vertical sectional view through the pivot bolt for the latch leinwardly of the head with a squared portion 14 and adjacent its opposite end with a squared portion 15 and at its extreme opposite cud with a reduced threaded portion 36. Engaged upon the squared portion H of the bolt is one end of a hand lever 17, which lever is located inwardly of the door and is offset as at 18 directl above its ioint of connection with the be t 12 so that it may be readily grasped without the hands of the operator being injured by contact with the door when the lever is operated. The pui ose of this lever will be presently explained? The latch lever of my device is formed of a bar of metal having major and minor oflsct portions 19 and 20 respectively and a connecting portion 21 through which is formed a rectangular opening 22 which is engaged with the squared portion 15 of the pivot bolt 12, the said lever being thus held upon the bolt for movement simultaneously with the hand lever 17 and being prevented of a nut 23 which is engaged upon the threaded vortion 16 of the pivot bol t and confines t re connecting portion 21 between the nut and the plates. The major ofl'set portion 19 of the latch lever is itself provided with enotlset 24 which terminates inn handle 25 by means of which the lever may be turned for a purpose to be explained.

keeper is provided for the latch lever and comprises a bar 26 which has its upper end bent rearwardly as at 27, thence up wardly as at 28 and secured to the door frame 6. The body portion of the keeper is directed. downwardly from its rearwardly bent portion 27 and inwardly at an angle to the door frame 6 to which it is secured at its lower end as at 25). Adjacent the middle of its body POI'LlfiI], the keeper 26 is provided with an opening 30 and an opening 31 is ver, showing the manner of connectirn the latch lever and the inner latch handle t hcrcl with. l Referring more specifically to the drawings, the numeral 5 denotes a refrigeratorl door and 6 a portion of the door casing. Secured at corresponding points upon the inner and outer faces of thedoor 5 and adjacent the outer edge thereof are plates 7 and '3. l and rotatably engaged through an opening H formed through the door and through open irgs 10 and 11 formed respectively in the plates 7 and 8, is a pivot bolt 12 which is prog vid d at one l' its ends with a head 13 and 1 formed through the minor otl'set portion 20 of the latch lever.

When it is desired to lock the door, the handle 25 is grasped and the latch lever swung so that its minor oll'set portion 20 will engage the rear or inner face of the body portion 26 of the keeper th said handle end of the lever being shoved upwardly which will cause thcsaid portion 20 to bind against the keeper and tight ly close the door. When this has been done. the hail of a padlock (not shovrn may be engaged through the openings ?H and l} and it is to be understood that these openings may he or" any against disengagement therefrom by means suitable m'ze and shape which may be desired.

When it is desired to open the door or, in other words, to slightly 0 en the same, the latch lever is swung in a lfalf circle until its major oll's'et portion 19 enga es the outer face of the bottom portion 0 t e keeper, the handle end of the latch lever being then shoved upwardly to cause this portion 19 to bind against the said outer face of the kee r and release the door. It will be readily understood that the hand lever 17 may be operated by any one within the refrigerator to cause proper actuation of the latch lever. It will, of course, be understood that the operating lever which lies inwardl of the door may be omitted when the latch is used in connection with a small refrigerator.

What isclaimed is:

In a device of the class described, the combination with a, door and its frame, of an inclined keeper secured to the fraine, a ivot bolt passed throufgh the door, a latch ever fixed to one end 0 the bolt and outwardly of the door, said'latch lever having its portions upon 0 posits sides of its point of connection with t e pivot. bolt offset to lie in spaced relation to th evddor, the said offset portions being ofsubstantially the same length and. being each adapted for engagement with the kee or one portion being designed to ride w'it in the keeper and the other along the outer face of lhe keeper, a handle formed with the last mentioned portion, a hand lever fixed to the other end of the pivot bolt inwardly of the door, said hand lever'being extended in a plane at right angles to the latch lever and bein Erranged to extend upwardly ina vertiea plane when the first mentioned portion is kee er and to extend downwardly in a vertic plane when the second mentioned portion is engaied withthe outer face of the keeper, said and lever being also arranged to be swung to the extent of a semi-circle in a. direction away from the free edge of the door to bring the said portions into such e ernent with the keeper substantially as ascribed.

In testimon whereof, I. aifix my signature, in presenceo two witnesses.

E. R. Winner, MAMIE WRIGHT.

engaged. within the 

